STUDIES ON EARLY PODDING VARIETIES AND POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT OF IMMATURE GREEN GRAINS OF CHICKPEA TO BE USED AS VEGETABLE

Abstract

The experiments were conducted on short-duration chickpea genotypes and post-harvest management of green grains for expanding the period of green grain availability in northern India. Two super-early chickpea breeding lines, ICCV 96029 and ICCV 96030, developed at ICRISAT were evaluated for green grain yield and other ancillary characters. Both lines were found early in flowering and podding and produced >2.0 t ha-1 fresh green seed yield in 75 days after sowing when sown in first week of October. Though the early podding lines could make available green grains for a longer period, the acceptability of these lines was restricted due to their susceptibility to diseases and less-preferred pale yellowish grain color. Hence, efforts were made to improve these traits by crossing super-early lines with well adapted cultivars/elite lines. Over 260 progenies (F4 to F6) were evaluated along with checks ICCV 96030 and PBG 1 during crop season 2005/06. Many progenies were found superior to the best check ICCV 96030 and selected for further evaluation. Experiments conducted on different packaging and storage methods showed that green grains and pods packed with/without peduncles in polyethylene (PE) packs in presence/absence of CaCl2 extended the shelf life. In PE packs, green grains without CaCl2 in thermocol box could be stored for up to 15 days at refrigeration temperature. Green pods showed better shelf life than shelled green grains. Acetic acid solutions with salt solutions could be used to enhance the shelf life of green grains. Thus, the early podding varieties can be used for expanding the availability of green grains and the storage methods identified in this study can be used for extending shelf life of green pods/grains of chickpea